How would it feel if you were diagnosed with a lethal, deadly disease that you unlikely would never recover from after having difficulty breathing on a family trip? How do you think it would feel if you had as little as a few years or even months to live? This was the unfortunate reality for many individuals and families.…
I can’t imagine how traumatic the experience on your plane ride must have been along with the physical and emotional pain that came as a result. I know you are feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, desperate, and exhausted. My best advice that I can give you Brian is patience and to also channel all of your negative energy into something positive that can help boost your chances of survival while waiting for emergency help. The patience will help you learn and grow into a young man. I now you can get through this Brian, these physical challenges involve the power of your mind within yourself. Basically, everyday you must have positive thoughts.…
I looked around and I wasn’t in my room anymore, I was in the hospital during my grandpa’s surgery. The waiting room was cold and sterile and the smell of antiseptic was so strong I could taste it. Waves of uneasiness washed over me as if they were trying to drown me. My grandma and my mother were sitting in the room with me and they looked just as scared. I remembered how long my grandpa was in surgery to get his windpipe removed, how I had thought that I wouldn’t make it through the hours he was and that if he didn’t then I wouldn’t make it for much longer afterward.…
That day is unknown for most people which both frightens them and encourages them. Everyone is scared of dying one day, but without choices and options to have while alive, there is not much to look forward to. Everyday will be lived day in and day out by the orders enforced. Life is not meant to be lived as a slave to another person's will, life is meant to be lived freely with with your own will guiding your…
The day that will forever live in infamy, September 11th, 2001. The tragic attacks executed by terrorist killed thousands of American lives, and I was only twenty five miles from ground zero. A five year old at the time, just on the outskirt of New York City, during biggest terrorist attack ever committed on U.S Soil. I remember seeing the smoke emerging into the sky far in the distance, from the little beach town of Point Lookout. At the time I had no idea what was happening. People were scared, the Great city of New York stopped in its own tracks. My family didn’t really leave the house for a while after the attack, since we were afraid of any other crazy event happened. You never know, It’s New York. My Mother swears she saw the smoke billowing up for at least a week after. The country was in a pandemic, and my father was soon out of a job. We needed to leave New York, and find a new place to start over.…
Once again, I found myself wandering through the uncomfortable, brightly lit halls of the hospital. I was to find the room where my father was, an all too familiar task. "Room 443", I was told by my mother who had requested me to take my dad back to his apartment. Upon entering the elevator I let out a sigh of apprehension and turned to wearily push the button labeled "4". Whiffs of disinfectant products meandered themselves inside my nose while I looked around to see egg-white walls and nurses shuffling about in their bright, floral print scrubs. One of them approached me with a kind smile. "May I help you?" I briefly responded saying I needed to find my father, Charles Jolitz. "Go down the hall. He's in the last room on the left." Slowly making my way to the door, I speculated about what had happened to my dad this time. I entered the room thinking to myself, "Boy, he looks worse every time.", his salt and pepper hair ruffled, beard unshaven and a look of loss on his face. Though as soon as his eyes met mine, that face lit up and the corners of his mouth upturned into a smile. "My chickadee!", he exclaimed. I asked him how he was feeling and if it was time to go as the nurse carted in a wheelchair. All three of us made our way down to the lobby exchanging small talk. I dashed to my car, happy to be out of the dreariness that is a hospital. I hoped he would tell me why he was there yet again. Once in the car, he told me in a few words that he had had another episode due to taking his pain medication with a fifth of vodka and had lost control. He ended up dialing 911. My dad hurriedly changed the subject asking if I was hungry and if I would like to go have a burger. I let out another sigh. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm not hungry, I've already eaten but I can take you to get one. We can go for lunch later this week." "Alright, sweetie.", said he. We arrived at his apartment complex and I walked him to his…
That was the day that my grandpa passed away. Every single part of that date is engrained in my memory. My parents had driven up to Wisconsin, and my older sister Lauren drove home for college to stay with me. It wasn’t out of the normal for my parents to quickly leave, so I didn’t think much of it. I remember going to hang out with Tatum, my best friend of the time. It was a nice day outside, so of course we were outside playing on the trampoline and doing all our weird routines like we always did. Her family, who was like a second family to me, decided to go out to eat so they brought me along. We went to La Charitas. I remember how Mrs. Teeple pulled out a funny card game for us to play, and I remember Tatum cutting out faces in her tortilla, making us all laugh. When we got back to the house we saw that my sister called, so I said bye to the Teeples and walked one minute down the road to my house. Lauren, who is one of the most emotional in the family, was left with the task of telling me that my grandpa had passed away. I had just grabbed a snack of chocolate cheerios as she started to tell me the news. I didn’t know how to react, so I ran into the basement directly to the furthest corner I could find. Lauren tried talking to me, but I wanted to be by myself. One of the hardest things I have ever done was talking to my dad on the phone after finding out. He called to tell me the plans, that he was coming home to get us, and…
When I was young I always dreamed of flying on a plane. Finally, my dream was coming true, and I was on my way to the USA where I had always known I would end up. This was my first trip on an airplane, and it was also one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I remember everything about my first flight, and it was a lot to remember since it took twenty-seven hours from start to finish. The fight did have one stop in Japan, but that was just to change planes. Once my parents and I got onto the plane and sat down, I started to look at everything around me. I noticed the small white air vents right above my head with little lights next to the vent. It was so great because the controls were right on my armrest. There was a place on the armrest to plug the headphones in in order to listen to music or watch a movie. After everyone got settled into their seats, the airhostess came over the intercom and explained all of the safety procedures. But I am going to tell you; I couldn’t understand what they say, besides staring at their body language. They also showed everyone how to put the seat belts on correctly. After the airhostess was done with…
That day was a risk for me because I could have done several things wrong and it would make a scar on past that I would always remember the day as a reminder to never present things and my fear would never leave.…
Finally they put the IV in my arm and pumped the medicine in. I soon felt weak and BAM I'm put to sleep. When I was out, I had this crazy dream. It was mixed with me falling into the bottom of the world, me breaking my arm at that moment, and the hospital. Crazy. It was about 10 minutes I was sleeping, but felt like 2 minutes. As soon as I wake up, they already put the big cast on. I did NOT like having a broken arm. When I am fully awake, they ask me for some apple juice. I say sure because I haven't had a drink in 6 hours. Once we start to leave, they wheel me in a wheelchair. Only because I might not be stable enough from all the medicine I had. On our way home, my mom talks about how she felt and by that she means that she feels horrible. But I also feel terrible for me…
There I was on the hospital bed, with one pillow and mini stairs on the left side. This time my dad was here with me more nervous than I could ever be. He was asking so many questions.…
I was always the visitor, because someone I knew was sick. The emergency room was quite unsettling. I saw people who were in worse condition than me. The lady across from me had a broken neck and the man beside her was vomiting blood. I hate to admit it, but seeing that people there were in worse condition than me was rather comforting. As a result, I did not mind the wait. It took the doctor an hour to see me. He brushed it off as nothing was wrong and it was just a virus, but he sent a nurse to do some bloodwork. A nurse came in and poked me with a needle to draw some blood from me. I was kind of scared of getting my result back, because I was still adamant that I was dying. The nurse came back and casually told me that my blood work was abnormal. I was having a meltdown inside, but I kept a calm composure. She said that another nurse would come in and perform an EKG on me. The EKG nurse arrived and wasted no time in hooking a bunch of cold wires to my chest to check the electrical activity of my heart. Turns out my heart was not beating normally either. I thought to myself “What else could possibly go wrong?”. I had thought that question to soon. The nurse with a smile continued to tell me that the doctor thinks I have a pulmonary embolism. She further explained that basically means I have a blood clot in my lung, but it was highly unlikely that at my age I had it. My mom asked her what could have possibly caused a…
I wanted to cry I wanted to let something out but the pain was off a scale of tears and all I could do was scream. I felt weak and and as if my life was draining out of me. I lost my strength to stand,to bounce on a ball or lean against a shower wall.I laid down as if giving up, surrendering my body and strength. I so badly wanted to say I can’t or I want the epidural but I never did. I began grasping at everything…
Tears were rushing down my face as I lied in the rock hard uncomfortable hospital bed. Wearing my ugly gowned and the net for my hair, I was listening to all the beeping from the heart rates. While watching the IV puncture my vein, I could feel cold fluids steaming through my body like a river. I looked down and saw a tube filled with blood and almost gagged. I saw my parents, siblings, and best friend gathered around me wishing me luck. Scanning their facial expressions, I could tell they were nervous. The best part of this experience was I had a very good looking doctor. Although, I still had so many awful thoughts that were traveling through my head. What if I don’t wake up? What if my foot gets amputated? What if the anesthesia doesn’t work and…
he most frightening experience of my life happened about seven months ago when my friends and I went to the feast of Valletta and many people were there. Some of them were a little bit drunk or people celebrating like crazy because they are obsessed fans of the feast.…